Breaking Down the Walls
by mysteriousgirl3
Summary: When an old friend of Gibbs' asks a favour he finds himself protecting a 14 year old girl from her abusive father. Together they both learn to have the life they never thought the could. Warning, corporal punishment spanking
1. Changes

Gibbs sat deep in conversation with his old friend, wondering when she was going to come right out with it and say it. Say that she was going to collect. He didn't mind, he owed her after all, but he'd been here for 45 minutes and so far all he heard was how well her daughter Jessie was doing at school and the fact that her neighbours were pissing her off.

Andrea James was one of Gibb's oldest friends, a social worker from D.C. She had met him just before his deployment during which Shannon and Kelly were killed. When he returned, she watched over him, keeping her distance but always there. She pulled him back from the edge when he thought it got all too tough. The fact that he was here and, let's face it, relatively sane, had a lot to do with Andrea. So yes, he owed her.

"But I'm guessing you want me to cut the BS and tell you why I called you?" Andrea asked, having drawn out the one sided conversation long enough,

"If you wouldn't mind," Gibbs retorted, and then felt guilty, "what can I help you with?"

"It's not me you can help………..it's her."  
Andrea slid across a thin file and opened it to the first page. In the top, right hand corner was a photo of a young girl with long blonde hair and dark blue eyes, which were wide and terrified. Her skin was pale, like she'd been sick. Gibbs read down.

Kristin Delaney, 14 years old from Baltimore. Recently removed from her home after an alleged assault by her father, prominent lawyer Jack Delaney. Suspicion of other assaults and multiple anonymous tips offs of child abuse over the past 5 years. Gibbs looked up.

"I don't understand how I can help?"  
"Kristin was removed from her home a week ago and placed in foster care while the abuse was investigated and if necessary the case went to family court. She was there for 3 days when she was attacked on her way home from school. Nobody saw anything and she won't talk about it, which makes us think her father was involved. He is being investigated over a range of things, embezzlement, tax fraud and the police have reason to believe Kristin knows the inners workings of her father's company. He'd want to keep her quiet."  
"Is she ok?" Gibbs enquired,

"She wouldn't let anyone examine her past what we could see, so we know she has a black eye. But we're not taking the risk again. I want her out of there and around people who can look out for her. I need someone I can trust. Jack Delaney knows too many people and has too much sway over people, I need her with someone I can trust."  
It suddenly all made sense, she needed a guardian.

"You want me to look after her? Jesus Andrea, she's a 14 year old girl, what do I know about looking after a 14 year old girl?"  
"Gibbs, if there is something I know about you it's that you could protect anyone. She seems like a good kid, she just needs a break. Please."  
But she knew she already had him. Smiling to herself she slid over a post-it with the address of the foster home.

"She'll be waiting, pick her up this afternoon, I'll come over on Saturday and make sure everything's ok."  
Gibbs just nodded, looking the photo.

"Gibbs," Andrea said as she stood up, "Shannon would be very proud of you, she was always helping out strays, she hung on to you didn't she?"

Back at the office, Gibbs sat in MTAC waiting for a video conference link up with Kristin's file in his hand praying he had the strength he needed to help this girl. He felt the chair next to him sag down and saw DiNozzo sitting next to him. Silently, Gibbs passed him the file.

"This is what your lunch meeting with Andrea was about?"  
Tony had met Andrea once or twice in the past and had been wondering what she needed with his boss.

"She needs me to look after this kid while they figure out if he embezzling, tax evading father is abusing her."  
"Shit," DiNozzo responded then winced automatically, "sorry Boss, but that's a bombshell. Since you have her file I assume you said yes?"  
"I was supposed to leave to pick her up 15 minutes ago but this god damn link up keeps dropping out"  
"Want me to get her?"

It was one of those moments Gibbs loved the senior agent like a son he'd never had.

"Would you? Just bring her back here then I'll take her home. Thanks Tony."  
DiNozzo smiled, Gibbs never called him Tony. As he stood up to leave Gibbs called him back over. Bending over to pick up the address paper he'd forgotten he yelped as Gibb's hand collided with the back of his head.

"Don't swear in front of her."

Kristin sat on the bed of the foster home with a book open in front of her. The book would have been an easy read for a 9 year old, or a dumb 10 year old so it wasn't really grabbing her attention but she kept going. She heard the doorbell ring and wondered if it was this mysterious Gibbs she was supposedly going home with. Her social worker, Andrea, had given her a brief back story. Navy cop, old friend, going to protect her. Kristin didn't care. It was further away from Baltimore and maybe, just maybe he would be intimidating enough that he father would stay away, just for a little while. Deep down though, she wondered if he'd be any different. Absent minded, she rubbed the bruise over her left eye and pushed her normally straight fringe to the side in a poor attempt to cover it. Hearing footsteps she straightened up and closed her book. The carer, Mrs Ward or Woods or something walked in with a young man who didn't look old enough or scary enough to be Andrea's friend.

"Kristin, this is Anthony DiNozzo, he works with Mr Gibbs"  
Tony held out his hand and Kristin stood and shook it softly

"Gibbs got held up at a meeting so I'm going to take you over to him, ok?" Tony asked all the while observing the bruise across her temple Mrs Ward had warned him about.  
Kristin nodded, picked up her things and followed Tony to the car. As she put her things in the trunk, Tony asked the carer,

"Is there anything else I should know?"  
"She hasn't said a full sentence since she got here, you know as much about her as I do."  
Tony got into the driver's seat and looked at Kristin who had turned to look out the window. From this new angle he could see a bruise on the side of her neck. Starting the car he said,

"By the way, you can call me Tony"  
Kristin looked over, surprised to have him talk to her, but she didn't reply.

"Nice shiner," Tony said light-heartedly, "How did you hide the neck bruise from them?"  
Kristin still didn't reply, but looked at Tony, slightly confused. Tony tapped the NCIS sticker on the dashboard,

"Naval Criminal…"  
"I know what it stands for"  
"Well, then lets just say it's my job to notice"

Kristin smirked but decided he seemed harmless enough, he was actually kind of cute.  
"I didn't hide it, I just saw it this morning, it doesn't hurt, don't worry about it"

"Yeah well, the woman said you didn't see a doctor, Gibb's will want you to see ours."  
At the mention of Gibbs, Tony saw Kristin stiffen and look away. She was scared of him. Or scared of the image she had of him. Pulling up to a red light he looked at her.  
"Listen, first impressions are rough and Gibb's doesn't give a great one. He's an intimidating man. He's strict and gruff, but he's also kind and fair…."  
Kristin looked at him, willing him to get to the point,

"He won't hurt you," Tony said in almost a whisper.

At NCIS, Kristin and Tony walked into a now empty MTAC where Gibbs was collecting papers and barking orders at the computer geeks. Seeing someone behind him he turned around to see Tony and a young girl, a few steps behind him.

"You must be Kristin?" Gibbs asked holding out his hand.

Kristin nodded silently and shook his hand.

"Boss, do you have a minute?" Tony and Gibbs walked away from Kristin as Tony started to explain,

"She has bruises on her face and I found new ones on her neck, she winced like 3 times in the car, she's hurt from that attack, but she won't talk"

"We'll go see Ducky, thanks Tony."

In the elevator down to autopsy, Gibbs noticed Kristin standing as far away from him as possible in the corner. As they walked towards autopsy, she kept a few steps back at all times.  
"Jethro!" Ducky, exclaimed, "This must be young Kristin, very well, come over and have a seat, I apologise that for the most part my patients are dead, but this towel is clean and I'm sure it will suffice.

Noticeably overwhelmed Kristin pushed herself up onto the table, wincing at the exertion.

Chatting away Ducky began examining the young girl, but it did not go unnoticed that she didn't take her eyes of Gibbs the whole time. Looking particularly intimidated by him, Ducky gestured for him to turn around so he could examine her ribs.  
"Now my dear, I need you to roll up the bottom of your shirt so I can feel your ribs"  
Kristin looked down, afraid to meet the kind man's eyes.  
"I promise I won't hurt her, but I need to know if you have a broken rib."  
Fighting a losing battle, Kristin raised her shirt a few inches, revealing the dark blue bruise where she assumed she had been kicked. As Ducky gently pressed around he ribs she jumped at every new contact.

Suitably satisfied nothing was broken, Ducky lowered the shirt and squeezed her knee. Coming over to Gibbs he spoke softly,  
"Jethro, I think she just has some bruising, no sign of concussion or internal bleeding but see if she can take it easy for a few days and ill look at her again next week."  
"Thanks Duck"  
"No problem, but Jethro?"  
"Mmmm?" Gibbs was now watching Kristin who was staring resolutely at the ground.

"Be careful with her, she's absolutely terrified. She has all the classic signs of someone who's been abused, so just don't scare her."  
"I know Ducky. I know"

Finally at home, Gibbs showed Kristin upstairs to her room before showing her the rest of the house. The ride home had been quite, he'd asked a few questions which she'd answered with yes or no sir. He hated that but didn't correct her, if that's how she'd been raised it wouldn't help to start criticising her now.

"So I have all the paper work I think you need for school, so I'll take you there tomorrow. One of Tony's friends works at the local school so he'll show you around and get you set up. Then tomorrow night we'll have a chat about a few things. Ok?"  
"Yes sir," Kristin replied softly, "Thank you…for everything"  
"You're welcome. You look exhausted, go to bed. Everything won't seem so bad in the morning."

As she lay her head down and pulled the covers around her, Kristin didn't let herself get her hopes up that this man could really be as nice as Tony wanted her to believe. But right now, she had to trust him. She didn't have anyone else left.


	2. School and Rules

Kristin looked at the classroom in front of her. She was nervous. Not about making friends, she'd never had friends, why would she care about that now? She just didn't want to piss anyone off by sitting in their seat.

It wasn't that she hadn't had friends before. She had acquaintances. Sons and daughters of the partners in her father's firm. She hung around with them because she had to. But they weren't close. They knew what went on at home and they didn't care. Their father's made sure they knew not to care.

Kristin looked down at the schedule in her hands and pretended to be studying it intently. Her year advisor, Andrew Franklin, the friend of Tony's, had given it to her after their brief meeting this morning. Kristin had stood off to one side, watching as Gibbs and Mr Franklin chatted like old friends and brushed over the technicalities of her mid semester enrolment. A few jokes at Tony's expense later, she was on her way to first period. And here she was. Where to sit….

Suddenly she noticed a girl in the back row, with 2 free seats to her left and 1 free seat to her right, her head was buried in a book, her softly curled hair falling over her shoulders, completely oblivious to the classroom around her. Kristin approached slowly and the girl looked up and smiled softly,

"You can sit here if you want?" She said, whilst marking her page in her book.

"Thanks," Kristin replied, taking the seat next to her.  
The girl watched her closely and Kristin nervously tried to flatten her fringe over her ever present bruised eye that a full round of make-up had failed to cover.

"My name's Capri," she started slowly, "and I don't normally sit by myself, in case you're wondering, my 2 friends are away today. Soccer tournament. Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra girl around. There's only so much testosterone a girl can take in one day."  
Kristin laughed softly and looked at Capri whilst unpacking her books.

"I'm Kristin…….glad I could help even out the ratio"

The girls, laughed and Capri helped Kristin figure out where the class was up to in their textbook, all the while Kristin felt the most relaxed she had in a week. It was only first period at everything was going smoothly.

A book slamming on a table brought the class's attention to Mr Franklin entering the room, smiling as looked around at the faces he had startled. In a soft British accent, with the same hint of laughter Tony had in his voice, he directed the class to start on the equations from the textbook. As Kristin read down the page she realised that her old school had covered this work already, and sighed in relief. One less thing to worry about.

The day passed more or less incident free as Kristin continued her pledge to remain invisible. The exception to this rule was Capri, who had an amazing ability to make Kristin feel like she had known her for years. Over lunch, Capri had begun to ask the questions Kristin was reluctant to answer. Where had she moved from? Why the move? What did her parents do? Though she never pressed the vague answers she received, Kristin felt the need to explain her unusual story to Capri and began to explain Gibbs and why she was here, delicately dancing over the details of the removal from her home, allowing Capri to draw the obvious conclusions from her bruises.

Finally the day was over and the two girls sat together on the bus, Capri directly Kristin on how to get to NCIS from the nearest bus stop. As Kristin exited the bus and waved to the first real friend she'd ever had, she started to think there was hope for this arrangement.

In NCIS, she was introduced to the rest of Gibbs' team she hadn't managed to meet on her whirlwind tour of MTAC and autopsy yesterday. Having been introduced to Ziva, McGee and (quite clearly Gibb's favourite) Abby, Kristin noted that they were all nice and friendly enough, yet she felt wary. So many knew people, who all knew the details about her life she would prefer no one knew. As she sat at the table behind Gibbs, she buried herself in her math homework, ignoring the eyes that watched her every move.

After 15 minutes of awkward silence and glances, Tony announced that he was going to see Abby and a quick look in Gibbs' direction indicated he should follow. In the elevator Gibbs pulled the emergency brake and turned to his senior field agent, wondering what insights he had on the girl he had bonded with so quickly.

"Boss, I'm not sure if you've noticed and I don't know how things were last night, but I just get the feeling, mostly from how she acted in the car…." Tony rambled,

"Get on with it DiNozzo, you're not going to hurt my feelings" Gibbs barked

"She'd terrified of you. She thinks you're going to be just like her father and beat the crap out of her when she does something wrong. Or when she doesn't…." he trailed off thinking of his own father.

"She told you this?"  
"She didn't have to. She won't stand near you, she tenses up when you come past…"  
"So what do you suggest?" Gibbs asked, not quite sure why he was asking DiNozzo's advice

"Talk to her. Explain to her how it's going to be. Like you do with us. Well maybe not as blunt as you did with me. She wants to know what will happen when she screws up and she's 14, she will screw up. Tell her you're not going to give her a black eye and broken ribs."  
Flipping off the emergency switch, Gibbs reasoned the Tony had a point. His gruff exterior was probably making her think she was exactly like her father. They needed to talk. Tonight.

Gibbs watched as Kristin moved the last pieced of her salad around her plate. Dinner had been quiet. Everything was quiet with this girl. He had however, managed to learn about her day at school and her new friend. He felt better that she had Andrew for a teacher. Not that he wanted him to spy on her but it was nice to know he had a man on the inside, who could keep an eye on her, keep her safe. But for right now, he was on his own and they needed to talk.  
"So.." Gibbs started and waited for Kristin to look up from her plate and put her fork down, "you've had a lot going on the last week or so, lots of changed, I was thinking we should talk, about some rules and things, to make sure you're safe while you're here."  
Kristin nodded, but to Gibbs surprise, didn't react either way.  
"So first, I need to know where you are. At all times. We, that is to say, Andrea and I, don't want another incident like the other day occurring and you get hurt. So if plans change, you call and tell me your new ETA."  
With that, Gibbs slid across a new cell phone.

"I already have a cell phone" Kristin replied

"Take this one, god knows who your father has tracking this one"

"Secondly, I need you to be honest with me, all the time. If there's something you don't want to talk about with me, that's fine, you can talk to any of my team, but if something happens to you, anyone contacts you, anything strange happens at all, you need to tell me about it if I'm going to keep you safe. Ok?"  
Kristin nodded again.

"I think we can figure out curfew and things later. I'm sure you're not old enough for the drinking and drugs talk?" Gibbs asked warningly,

Kristin smiled and laughed softly and Gibbs smiled in return, maybe they were getting somewhere,

"Don't do it?" She asked.

"Got it in one."

Gibbs watched as Kristin looked back down at the table, noticeably uncomfortable again and looking like she was struggling to say something,

"What is it?" He prompted gently,

"Wh…what if I screw up?" She asked so quietly he nearly didn't hear.  
Gibbs paused and thought about how to tackle the question.

"What did your father do if you lied to him, or missed curfew?"  
Kristin blushed and looked away, determined not to answer a question she was sure he knew the answer to anyway.

"Whatever he did and I have a pretty good idea, I won't do that. I will never hit you or strike you or deliberately injure you in any way."  
"So then…."  
"Kids make mistakes, we deal with it and move on. Maybe I ground you for a bit, maybe I make you clean some tools for me. But if you put yourself in danger, or deliberately disobey me, I will spank you. Spank you, not hit you. I won't break bones or leave wounds, but you will think again before you do whatever it was you did in the first place. Understand?"  
Kristin stiffened a little and kept looking down during his speech. She didn't have a problem with spankings in theory, her grandfather had done it all the time when he was alive. It was when it turned to a full blown beating that she got scared. She wanted to trust that it wouldn't go down like that this time. But she didn't know for sure yet.

Gibbs watched Kristin look uncomfortably down at her lap, her cheeks bright red. He debated with himself a moment longer, the reached over and gently lifted her chin so they were looking eye to eye, ignoring her body stiffening and obvious effort to avoid moving away.  
"Understand?" He repeated,

"Yes sir" She replied and Gibbs smiled and let her go, reaching down and taking her plate as he stood. He had to give DiNozzo credit, it seemed to have worked. The two stood together, side by side washing dishes, talking about school and Gibbs work. She didn't seem relaxed but she did seem as though a weight had come off her shoulders.

That night, as Kristin lay in bed again, she thought about her conversation with Gibbs. He had promised he would never beat her. But what if he was lying? She couldn't stay with another man who beat her. Not again. And who would believe her over an ex Marine. She needed to know for sure and there was only one way to do it.


	3. Passing the test

It had been over a week since Gibbs and Kristin had had their discussion about the rules and for the most part, life had been better because of it. Kristin seemed more relaxed and talked more and more, but she still had an itch she needed to scratch. She needed to test this man she found herself trusting and find out if he was for real. She really hoped he was for real.

At school, things had been going really well. The work, thanks to her seemingly well advanced previous school, was very easy, but she kept this to herself, remembering her promise not to draw attention to herself. Not that this promise was going all that well. Mr Franklin was an exceptionally perceptive teacher. He was also funny and friendly and his British accent made everything sound like he was making a joke. He told her sneaky stories about Tony, (who she now realised was Mr Franklin's frat brother in college) which she revealed to him in small increments to make him squirm.

Capri's friends, Zac and Dan had return from their soccer match and taken an instant liking to Kristin. Zac had longish blonde hair and a smile that made Kristin not believe that he wasn't more popular, while Dan had a natural goofiness and soft Irish accent which intensified when he argued with Mr Franklin over soccer results.

All in all, Kristin was happy. Happier than she'd been in a long time, which made doing what she had to do all that much harder.

Finally, on Wednesday morning, a week and a half after her talk with Gibbs she cut school. For no particular reason. She had no where to go, nothing to do, in fact, she was going to go to the library in the city where she wouldn't be noticed. But the fact was, she was just breaking enough of a rule to get Gibbs mad enough to see what he would do without her hurting anyone or putting herself in any major danger.

Back at school, Capri, Zac and Dan wondered where Kristin was and upon confirming that she hadn't mentioned anything about being away, began texting her to find out the reason.

After math first period, Mr Franklin called the 3 over and enquired as to their friend's whereabouts. When they all claimed not to know of her whereabouts, he dismissed them and began filling out the appropriate paperwork noting her absence.

By some miracle, at least by Kristin's standards, the school had seemed to take an extremely long time to contact Gibbs regarding her absence. In fact, as she walked home checking her phone for what must have been the 900th time that day, she wondered if in fact it really was that easy to skip school in a public school. She thought about the irony of not being caught the one time she wanted to.

This moment of brief amusement was however short lived, when, having not been home 5 minutes she heard Gibbs pull up in the driveway and come storming into the house. Walking into the dining room to meet him she saw that his face was full of rage and what she thought might have been fear. Could he have been worried about her? Her father never cared where she was when she wasn't at school, he just worried about giving child services reason to snoop around. Backing away from Gibbs slowly, Kristin jumped as he addressed her in a low, barely controlled voice,

"Did we have a miscommunication about going to school everyday Kristin?"  
Kristin looked at the floor and shook her head, then winced as she heard Gibbs sigh,

"You have been here not even 2 weeks and I have lost count of the number of times you have answered me by shaking or nodding your head. Let's try some verbal answers and look at me please"  
"No sir, you were clear." Kristin replied

"Then why did you decide it would be ok for you not to go to school?"  
Kristin looked down, then remembered his words and looked straight back up again.

"I….I can't say"

She could say, she would say. But not yet. After the punishment. Everything had to be real. She had to know what would happen if she screwed up for real under his roof.

"You can't say, well there will be plenty of time to talk about that later. But for now, let's talk about which of my rules you broke today?"  
Realising he wanted her to tell him she replied,  
"I lied to you about going to school and I didn't tell you where I was"  
"That's it? You didn't put yourself in danger?"  
Kristin suddenly realised that even when she told him where she was, he would probably argue that she was still in danger and he was probably right.  
"And I put myself in danger."  
"All this for something you can't talk about. Well, for now, go and stand in that corner and think about whether this is a secret you want to keep from me."  
Feeling completely ashamed and juvenile, Kristin stood in the corner, surprised at how disappointed Gibbs sounded in her, a girl he'd only just met. After 10 minutes, Gibbs called her over and Kristin turned to see him sitting on the couch and she now realised exactly how he planned to spank her. And suddenly her oh so brilliant plan seemed like the worst idea she'd ever had. Strengthening her resolve she reasoned it couldn't be any worse that what he father put her through and so she raised her eyes to meet Gibbs' and was surprised to see that he looked considerably less angry than before.

Standing in front of him he held her gaze and said,

"You're grounded for the rest of the week. You come to NCIS everyday after school where you will sit and do homework. You will see Andr…Mr Franklin in the morning and admit to him what you did and accept the school's punishment as well. Understood?"  
"Yes sir"

"I think you also know that I am about to spank you. But after this, it's over. I forgive you and we move on. After the grounding, we don't mention it again. Clear"  
Kristin nodded and mumbled an almost incoherent "yes sir."

"Good"

With that Gibbs reached out and pulled her over his lap, supporting her tiny frame with his left arm. He could feel her body shaking and so he rubbed her back slowly as she squirmed into position.

Raising his hand, he felt her inhale and hold her breath.

**SMACK. **His hand was harder than her father's and the strength of that first smack took her breath away. Nonetheless she was determined to stay quiet.

Gathering his resolve, he brought her trembling body closer and continued to rain the smacks down.

**SMACK. SMACK. SMACK. SMACK. SMACK. SMACK.**

As he began to lecture, he quickened his pace, determined to finish this quickly.

"You don't skip school whenever you feel like it and you certainly don't disappear for the day without telling me where you are!"  
"YES SIR!!" Kristin almost yelled, as loud as Gibbs had ever heard her.

With one more great **SMACK **he stopped and began rubbing her back as she quietly sobbed.

Kristin had never had such a caring punishment, in fact, she had never believed there was such a thing. Suddenly, she realised she had to clear the air once and for all. As Gibbs helped her up, she wiped away the few stray tears and raised her shaky head to look him in the eyes.

"I….I didn't go anywhere today"  
Gibbs looked at her, wondering why she would now try to protest her innocence.  
"I went to the library, I just, I just wanted to know what would happen if I screwed up." Kristin whispered,

"I told you what would happen?"  
Kristin broke eye contact and looked down

"I didn't believe you. I wanted to but….if you turned out to be like him….I couldn't stay here. I had to know. I'm sorry."

Gibbs pulled Kristin over to her and helped her sit on the couch, which, to her credit, she did without complaint. He pulled her into his side and wrapped his arm around her.

"Well, did I pass?"  
"Yes sir"

"I'm sorry you felt you needed to test me but I can understand why you would. Is there anything else I need to clear up or can I expect another act of disobedience in the near future?" Gibbs asked, with a smile in his voice

"No sir, got you loud and clear."

"Good. Kristin? I was worried about you today. Don't do it again"  
Kristin allowed herself to relax into the man's hug, unbelieving that such an event had occurred. She finally felt safe.

One day of detention and 3 days of grounding later, Kristin relished in Gibbs word to forget her transgression and found herself laughing, talking and smiling more that she ever had. Having had an initial fear that Gibbs now expected her to never screw up again, she shared her fears with Tony who laughed and guided her over to Gibbs desk, who looked up, confused with the interruption.  
"Boss, she's so cute, she thinks you think she'll be an angel from here on in and she'll never screw up again!" Tony laughed,

"Kristin," Gibbs replied, "If I gave up on someone after 1 mistake, I'd have gotten rid of Tony year ago. You're 14, you'll make mistakes. Just don't make them on purpose again."

Kristin laughed and nodded and walked back with Tony to his desk before a thought occurred to her,

"Wait, so he spanks you too?"  
Turning around just in time she saw a very red faced Tony mumble something about Abby before scurrying off.


	4. Secrets

_Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Sorry for the delay. I have a few chapters in my mind, but I needed some links. This chapter is one of those links. I hope you don't find it to be a "nothing" chapter, but I wanted to create some back story to the characters for when the drama hits. And trust me, it's coming._

_Thanks for reading._

* * *

Kristin was bored. She looked around the room at the rest of the class still battling away at the math test on a topic she'd covered months ago. She'd didn't mind. It gave her time to think. About her father. Gibbs. Her life. How to move her paper to just the right angle so Mr Franklin couldn't see she was showing Capri the answers.

Life was becoming less complicated. She knew it was the calm before the storm, so it always was with her family, but for once, she was appreciating it. She had 3 wonderful friends, a nice school filled with amazing teachers and most importantly, someone looking out for her. Watching over her. Kristin and Gibbs, well, mostly Kristin, had taken a few days to get over the initial embarrassment and awkwardness of the spanking, but she had now accepted that it really was over. He had forgiven her and they had moved on. Admittedly a new concept for Kristin, but she was learning.

"I swear to god Kristin," Mr Franklin interrupted her thoughts, "if you move that paper any closer to Capri you may as well swap with her"  
"Damn" Kristin thought, smirking as she moved the paper back.

At first it was exceptionally awkward having a teacher who was best friend's with Tony. But Mr Franklin, Andrew if she ever saw him outside of school, was the height of cool. And the inside jokes she had gotten on Tony hadn't hurt either.

But Andrew was on to her. Grading the math quizzes after lunch, there was something not quite right with Kristin's. It wasn't bad. 80, a perfectly acceptable grade, but all the working out seemed to be correct, in fact, it was done to a much higher level than they had learnt, yet some of the answers were wrong. This girl surrounded with mystery had just gotten a little more mysterious.

The next day after class, Andrew held Kristin back, ready to confront her about her test. Kristin was ready for the conversation assuming he'd caught the girls cheating yet wondering why he had laughed it off the day before.

"So Kristin," he started, "you got an 80 for your test"  
Kristin maintained a look of quite innocence coupled with slight confusion before answering,

"Is that bad? There were some tricky questions."  
Andrew smiled, she was actually quite a good liar, her test however, told a different story.

"Really? Well, all your working is correct, yet mysteriously your answers randomly appear to be wrong. Am I to believe that you just mistyped your calculations at the final stage……….5 times?"  
Kristin sighed and rolled her eyes slightly before returning his stare but saying nothing.

"C'mon Kristin, this is ridiculous, why on earth would you throw a test?"  
Kristin looked down and thought how to answer,

"When I came here," she said softly, "I wanted to be invisible. Blend in and eventually, when this was all over, move away like nothing had happened. Then suddenly, everyone knows who I am, where I come from and what I'm doing here. Everyone knows I came from one of the most exclusive schools in the state and yes, I have done this work before and sorry but the test was really easy, but I'm not going to rub it in anyone's faces. I may not be invisible, but I don't have to stand out that much. I don't want any special treatment."  
Suddenly Andrew understood she was embarrassed by what was going on. If he started to single her out and performing better than anyone else it would only draw attention to her perceived fall from grace from a prestigious private school to the local one. It was silly, but it probably meant the world to her.

Cuffing her head softly he smiled and handed her the paper. As he rifled through his desk he spoke,

"Don't do it again," handing her a think text book, "work from this tonight, I want you working on something a bit tougher, but I get it, keep it quiet."

* * *

Sitting at the kitchen table that night Kristin struggled to focus on her new math homework while Gibbs did paperwork. Sensing her distraction he took off his glasses and looked at her, smiling when she ducked her head and pretended to get back to work.

"What's wrong?"  
Kristin looked up and pretended not to know what he meant. Over the last week they'd started to talk more and she'd opened up. He, in return, started to recognise when something was wrong. When regular quiet Kristin turned into worried, practically mute Kristin.

"Come on, you've been sitting there pretending to work for 20 minutes. Did something happen at school today? Did you go?" He asked the last question with a smile to lighten the mood.

"I went." She said, not returning the joke. Sighing, she reached into her bag and passed Gibbs the math quiz Andrew had given her.

"80. That's good. You've had a lot going on and it's a new school…." He trailed off realising that she wasn't upset about the mark.

"I threw the test." Kristin announced in a whisper. "It was easy. Like, really easy…but I got some answers wrong on purpose."  
"Why?"  
Kristin looked at the man's eyes which weren't mad, liked she'd feared, but questioning and concerned. Realising she was all in now she gave him the same explanation she had given Andrew. When she finished she realised that Gibbs had moved to her side of the table and was turning her to look at him. As she still struggled with the closeness of the situation, she forced herself to return his gaze.

"You're allowed to want to keep your old like private. I get privacy better than anyone. But it's not right that you sacrifice your grades for it. I know Andrew and he's not the kind of guy to embarrass you over topping the class. Furthermore, everyone seems to know why you are here anyway, don't hide yourself away. You've been doing that for too long already."  
Kristin flushed, embarrassed remembering the talk they'd had briefly the other night about how she used to hide the marks that had resulted when her father…lost his temper. But she knew he was right. And she owed Andrew an apology.

"You're not mad?" She asked, still concerned she hadn't gotten her guardian quite figured out.  
"I'm not thrilled. But it won't happen again, right?" At her quiet "yes sir", he continued, "Then no, I'm not mad. I'll never be mad at you for getting a bad grade if you tried your best."  
Looking at Kristin's face, she was obviously surprised.  
"Is that something you've gotten in trouble for in the past?"  
Deciding she owed this man something, she spoke hesitantly,  
"I always had to top the class. My father said I had to uphold the family name. But once, I was sick during a test. I had a headache and I was dizzy and I couldn't understand the paper and I got a really bad grade. When my father saw the paper he said I would never get into a good college with grades like that and Delaney's went to Ivy league schools. Then….then he punished me. He hit me so hard he cracked a rib. When he found out later, he told the doctor I'd been playing soccer with the neighbours. Then he told me to use my recovery time to study so we'd never have to have the discussion again."  
Gibbs looked surprised. Not at the story. The snippets he'd gotten from Andrea and occasionally Kristin herself meant he was never surprised at what this bastard had done. But he was surprised that Kristin had told him so much. She look exhausted now, like she'd run a marathon with a weight on her shoulders, but the weight was gone now.

"I would never do that you. Ok?" When she nodded, Gibbs continued, "why don't you stop doing homework for now and help me on the boat?"  
Later, when Kristin was sanding, she looked at the man who continually surprised her when he took all she said without batting an eyelid. He accepted her like her own father didn't. She wished she could tell him all of it, but she had so many secrets, she didn't know where to begin.


	5. Any Other Day

_Hopefuly you don't think this chapter is strange. I have had it in my mind for awhile. It is written from many character's, including original character's points of view. Hopefully its a twist you didn't see coming._

The section in italics represents a conversation taking place in German. I originally wrote it in German then translated it but it was too confusing so I removed the translation. 

_Thank again for reading and reviewing_

* * *

If it had been any other day Kristin would have noticed she felt dizzy. She looked a little paler in the mirror. She felt sweatier than usual, even after a shower. But she had other things to worry about. She still felt terrible about the whole quiz debacle and was ready to apologise to Andrew today. That had to be what was making her feel off colour. She was feeling guilty. That was all. This hadn't happened in a while. She had it all under control.

If it had been any other day Gibbs would have noticed Kristin was quieter than normal. A subtle difference, she was always quiet. He would have noticed she wasn't eating but drinking water like it was going out of fashion. But he a meeting with Jen and a bunch of other people who far too important for his liking. He wasn't worried about it, just preoccupied.

If it had been any other day Capri would have noticed her friend was pale, quiet and just generally not with it. Her eyes seemed out of focus and she clearly wasn't listening to the two even more oblivious boys who were arguing about soccer results. But Capri had had an argument with her stepfather this morning and her mind was elsewhere. Just like Zac and Dan, but their minds were always elsewhere.

If it had been any other day Andrew would have noticed that Kristin wasn't doing any work. He head was down and she seemed to be swaying in her chair. The one time he called on her for an answer she looked at him and with obvious effort said she didn't know. He assumed she was still on the whole "fading into the background/pretending not be smart" thing. He'd have to talk to her about that. As for now, he'd run into his ex this morning at the coffee shop. Well not so much an ex as a poorly timed one night stand so it was fair to say, he wasn't really thinking about math.

Finally the bell rung and Kristin began to gather her books. Slowly. With no sudden movements. That stopped the dizziness. She didn't notice Christian, Zac's older brother, a very hot senior, enter the room and begin talking to Andrew. Capri turned in delight to her friend so they could make some highly inappropriate comment about Christian just loud enough for Zac to hear. Instead she saw Kristin's eye's roll back inside her head, he legs give way and her body come crashing down, her head cracking on the edge of the desk, her wrist folding awkwardly underneath her.

The crack of Kristin's skull on table alerted the small group of people still in the room and they came running over. Crouched down next to her the large amount of blood pooling from her head wound was obvious. Looking around for something to stem the wound, Christian found nothing and instead pulled of his t-shirt and held it firmly to her head. It was a testament to how worried she was that Capri didn't even notice. Assessing the situation, Andrew started giving orders. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and threw it to Zac.

"911, now!" He yelled

Turning to Dan he pointed at the door, "Get the nurse"

Turning his attention back to Kristin, he checked her pulse and made sure she was breathing. Then he waited for someone to help.

* * *

In the back of the ambulance Andrew sat with Kristin have successfully argued his way into riding with her. To their great disgust her friends watched the ambulance drive away, no doubt planning their escape from school to be with their friend. Dialling frantically, Andrew thought only of reaching Gibbs the only way he knew how. Through Tony.

On the 5th try Tony finally answered,

"Andrew, buddy, what's up? Shouldn't you be teaching?"  
"Tony, you have to get Gibbs and get to the hospital"  
Tony stopped smiling and sat up quickly in his chair, his heart pounding, there could only be one person Andrew was calling about if he needed Gibbs.

"He's in a meeting, he's been gone for hours. What's wrong? Is Kristin ok?"  
"Not really, she collapsed in class, I'm riding with her to the hospital. I don't know what's wrong."  
"I'll get Gibbs, we'll be right there"  
Tony slammed the phone shut and started to call Gibbs from his desk phone, knowing he would never answer. After a brief thought he barked the situation to Tim and Ziva, picked up his jacket and ran out the door.

* * *

Kristin had no idea where she was. She couldn't keep her eyes open. She could hear voices but they didn't make sense. As her eyes started to focus more she realised she was in hospital. But she didn't know why. People were trying to talk to her, but it hurt to talk back, everything hurt, finally they must have given up and given her something for the pain. Drifting back into unconsciousness, she just wanted John.

Dr Craig had seen this girl before. Just once. He'd stitched her up. Another head wound he thought. Back of the head. The whole thing was suspicious, but he remembered it. He checked the back of Kristin's head and sure enough a small scar proved his theory. Then he remembered. This was Dr Stein's friend. He had to call him. That was the order. If ever they saw this girl they had to call him, wherever he was. Leaving the other's to continue patching her up he ran to find Dr John Stein.

Tony burst through the doors of the ER and immediately saw Andrew standing outside a door talking to a nurse and he ran over.  
"Is she ok?"  
"She's fine. She's a bit groggy from pain killers but they've patched her up. They won't tell us anymore until her guardian gets here.

Turning to the nurse, Tony tried to explain,

"I'm Special Agent DiNozzo, I work with her guardian"  
"That's fine sir, you can go in and wait with her, but I can't tell you anymore until I speak to her guardian."  
Sensing a lost cause Tony silently thanked Andrew with a pat on the back and went in to see and sleeping Kristin with a wound on her head and a bandaged arm. Brushing back her hair he carefully kissed her forehead and sat down next to her told her good arm and wait for Gibbs.

* * *

Hearing voices, Kristin started to rouse. They sounded familiar, but who knew she was here? Blinking a few times to get her bearings she recognised the source of the voices.

"Tony? John!?!" She exclaimed,

Tony looked confused that she recognised the doctor by first name, buy before he could ask any questions, he was interrupted by Dr Stein in a language he could only assume was German.

"_Kristin, this man says he knows you? Is that true?"  
"Yes, he works with….my…guardian"  
"You're guardian? When did this happen, why didn't you call me?"  
"And say what? This is what you always wanted, me away from him. I just was embarrassed to talk about it."  
"We'll talk about it later, but what happened to you?"  
"It was nothing, I made a mistake"  
"I thought you had it under control…"  
"I thought I did too"_

Staring at Kristin and John and realising their was a fair amount he hadn't been told, he decided to interrupt,

"Sorry to interrupt, in English no less, but you guys know each other?"  
Not missing the exchanged guilty looks it was John who replied,

"Yes, we've known each other for some time. Anyway, Mr DiNozzo, I know you work with Kristin's boss but I'll have to wait to talk to you til he gets here, in the meantime, I must go make some phonecalls. Excuse me."  
Looking back at Kristin, Tony was shocked to see the she was mainly a perfectly innocent expression. He had so many questions, but in true Tony style, he tackled the least important first,  
"You speak German??"  
"Obviously."  
"But you take it at school….and I'm sure I would have heard about it if you were acing the course…are you lying so you can do easy work?"  
Kristin blushed, "Maybe, but what does it matter, its not like there is an advanced course I can go into"  
"Yeah but I doubt Gibbs would approve….know what I mean?"  
Kristin smiled as she fell back asleep. Tony would blackmail someone in a hospital.

* * *

Storming through the doors of the ER, Gibbs continually berated himself for missing Tony's 24 and Tim's 32 messages. Goddamn meeting. Finally spotting his senior agent and a doctor he rushed over,

"Is everything ok, where's Kristin?"  
It was the young doctor who spoke first,  
"Sir, I'm Dr Stein, Kristin is fine, she's asleep, she had a nasty cut to the head and her wrist is broken, but she's resting now and we'll get a cast on that wrist soon."

"Boss, the doctor is a friend of Kristin's," Tony interrupted,

Gibbs silenced him with a glare and looked at the doctor,

"It's true, I have been treating Kristin for years. I used to work in Baltimore and the last couple of years, when she's needed treatment she's come here."  
Knowing the answer, he had to ask, "Treatment for what?"  
"Honestly, a few typical kids bumps and scrapes, but mostly what her father gave her. I say this assuming that since you're her guardian finally someone is doing what I have been trying to for years?"  
Sighing and running his hands over his eyes Gibbs looked at the sleeping girl. Every time he turned around this got deeper and deeper, but to the task at hand.

"What happened?"  
"I suspect she's had a lot going on recently. She probably just forgot to check her blood sugar, didn't eat enough, maybe she's getting a cold… who knows. Diabetes is hard for anyone to control sometimes, let alone someone who's only known about it for a few months."  
"She's diabetic?"  
"You didn't know…well then I guess it makes sense…yes, she's known a few months now. I thought she had it under control."

* * *

Waking up again Kristin found Gibbs sitting next to her, hold he hand in the same spot she'd last seen Tony, who was now on the phone by the door. Suddenly very nervous, Kristin could look at Gibbs. She'd lied to him. That was one of his rules.

"Hey," he said gently, "you scared me"  
"Sorry", she whispered, still looking down.

Noticing her avoidance of him he decided to jump in the deep end,

"So…diabetes huh?"  
Kristin didn't reply, instead turning her head away, picking at the bandage on her right arm.  
Gently guiding her chin around, Gibbs forced eye contact,

"Why didn't you tell me?"  
Not wanting to answer, Kristin felt that draw to Gibbs, wanting to tell him the truth, wanting everything to be ok between them.

"I'm a big enough sob story already. You didn't need one more thing to worry about. Besides……" her eyes filled with tears, "it's not your problem. It's mine."  
Kissing her forehead gently Gibbs wished for a few minutes alone with the man who'd done such an extraordinary job of screwing with this girl's mind.

"You're problems are my problems. You can tell me anything."  
"You're not mad?"  
"Of course not, I was so worried about you"  
"But I lied to you, you're not…I mean I'm not.."  
"I think cracking your head open and breaking you're wrist is punishment enough for lying to me. Just promise me you'll tell me anytime you think something is wrong, even if it's not?"  
Kristin nodded again, embarrassed she'd ever thought this man would care that she was sick.

"I promise"

* * *

That night, Kristin sat on the couch with Capri, Zac and Dan, Gibbs watching fondly from a distance. They sat laughing and talking, Kristin a little quieter, still in pain but loving the feeling of being surrounded by the only friend's she'd ever had. As they switched the TV on they settled down to watch a movie. Putting an arm around her shoulders, Kristin settled into Dan's side, her heavy eyes closing as the events of the day took over her.

In the next room, Gibbs looked at a file John had given her. Notes and photos of everything he'd treated Kristin for since she was 5. Broken arms, ribs and collar bones. Internal bleeding. Minor burns. Sprained ankled. He had highlighted what he assumed was induced by her father and what he thought was genuinely accidently. According to John, Kristin had done an excellent job, even at 5 of lying about her injuries. However it was the note highlighted in green that pissed him off the most.  
"Confirmed case of type 1 diabetes. Spoke to father. Unconcerned, has arranged with housekeeper to manage."

Unbelieving that a father could not care that his daughter had a potentially lethal disease, he allowed himself for the first time to feel the worry and anxiety he had pushed aside upon hearing Kristin was in hospital. Determined never to see her like that again, he turned on his computer and opened google.

"Type 1 diabetes" He typed.


	6. Running

It had started off as a good week. After 4 weeks of the most annoyingly itchy cast being on Kristin's arm, she finally had it removed. After a few minutes of scratching Gibbs head slapped her gently and told her to leave her arm alone before she took all the skin off. Laughing quietly, Kristin reflected on the last few weeks. So much had changed. She no longer had to hide her insulin in the bathroom, secretly checking her blood sugar and giving herself injections when she needed them. Now it was seemingly a public affair. Gibbs watched the whole process and when this took place at NCIS, it usually resulted in a wager of what her blood sugar level would be.

The week however had taken a turn for the worst when Gibbs told her they had to be in court for the beginning of her hearing against her father. Or what Kristin believed to be a room full of people deciding her future with no consideration of what she thought at all. In fact, she wasn't even sure she was allowed to speak. There was a lot said about her though. Her father's lawyer, a partner from his firm, spoke at great length about how she was a wonderful actor and how essentially nothing she said could be taken at face value. This mad Kristin mad, but she just had to sit there. She couldn't speak, she could only sit and stew while Gibbs sat and watched this normally calm and silent girl fight an internal battle to challenge the allegations against her.

But at the end of the day, it wasn't the court session that upset Kristin the most. It was the slip of paper passed to her by a random person in the bathroom, clearly from her father. She had trained herself to remain impassive to her fathers critique and criticism but this took her by surprise. It was an old newspaper article with a post-it attached to it stating "think about someone else, stop interfering in people's lives." Removing the post-it to read the article underneath she was shocked to see a picture of a much younger looking Gibbs with a women and small child. Skimming the article she felt sick when she realised that Gibb's had a wife and child who had been killed. And suddenly, she felt something she rarely did. Her father was right. She had been thrust into this man's life without him really wanting her to be. He had to raise someone else's child after losing his own? Without his wife? Kristin had always wondered why he wasn't married until Tony had made multiple snide remarks about ex-wives, but she never thought it could be something like this. Throwing up into the toilet, Kristin made a decision, she wasn't going to ruin someone else's life. She wasn't his responsibility anymore.

* * *

The car trip from the court house was unusually silent, even by their standards. Gibbs knew Kristin was upset about the trial but he would wait to talk to her about it tonight. She had to get back to school and he had to go to work. There was no point upsetting her now.

"So you'll come to NCIS after work," Gibbs stated, "and we'll talk about all this tonight. It'll be ok, I promise."  
Kristin didn't look at him but nodded, knowing the silence annoyed him, she didn't really care. She wasn't his problem anymore.

Watching Gibbs drive away, Kristin stalled, entering the school slowly, planning her escape. Heading around the back of the school so as to sneak off on the main road behind it, she was so immersed in watching the school for teachers, she didn't see Mr Franklin walking back from his car with what she assumed was a forgotten textbook in his hand. Certain she was caught, Kristin froze and watched Andrew come straight toward her.  
"Kristin, what are you doing here? Are you skipping class?"  
"Technically I was never here today but yes I am"

Andrew, stared at this girl, normally so quite and almost timid, speaking so firmly and with definite anger in her eyes.

"You know I can't just let you leave. Gibbs would crack it. Why are you doing this again?"  
Kristin was angry now, but she didn't know why she angry at him.

"I'm so sick of everyone watching me all the time. Like they know me. Like they know what's going on. Here's what's going on. I don't know who you think you are, but you're not my father, my brother or my friend. You're my teacher who happens to know my guardian, but he's not going to be my guardian much longer, so just leave me alone!"  
Stopping briefly, Kristin felt an overpowing sense of guilt. She never unloaded like this, on anyone. Why had she unloaded on Andrew. He hadn't done anything wrong. Wondering if he would physically stop her, Kristin took a chance, dashing past him, running up the street before he could see the tears streaming down her face.

Springing back into life, Andrew patted his legs, feeling for his phone, he swore softly when he realised it was still in his office. Running towards the school he had only one thought. Calling the only man who could stop Kristin from the path of self destruction she was running head first towards.

* * *

On the bus on the way to the train station, Kristin pulled out her old cell phone and switched it on. She scrolled through the numbers until she found the one she needed. "Cameron work". She still smiled when she thought of what her brother did and how it could possibly be considered work. Nonetheless she needed her brother. Getting frustrated by her inability to reach him, she knew she had to find him. He had tried to sneak her out of the country and away from their father before and he would do it again.

* * *

30 minutes later, the NCIS office was crazy. Andrew had finally gotten in contact with Tony who had relayed the story to Gibbs. Of course, the technicalities had been lost but all Gibbs knew was Kristin was gone and they didn't know where to start to find her. Her phone was off and she seemed to have travelled a considerable distance from the school given the relatively small time frame.

Dividing up into teams, DiNozzo and McGee and Ziva and Gibbs headed out in opposite directions in search of Kristin. Having searched all the local bus and train stations, Tim suggested they try a train station a little further out from town. Perhaps, he suggested, she knew they'd search close by first. Or, Tony thought, she was headed a little further than a few towns away. There was one thing he felt certain of, she wasn't heading back to Baltimore.

Driving up to the next train station, Tony jumped out before McGee had even stopped the car. Known for spotting the impossible, a flash of blonde hair had caught his eye and he was chasing after it. Rounding the side of the building where the smokers sat waiting for their trains he saw her. Her face was flushed and pale all at the same time. When she looked at him, she didn't run or try and escape him, but she didn't come towards him either.

"Kristin, what the hell? Gibbs…well all of us were so worried, what the hell were you thinking?"  
Backing away slightly, Kristin replied, "I can't come with you Tony. I'm doing him a favour. I'm not going to ruin his life anymore. He doesn't need me there reminding him of them."  
With absolutely no idea what she was talking about, Tony saw McGee in the background, blocking her escape and he walked up to her, firmly planting a hand on her shoulder, guiding her towards the car.

She had never really planned to put up much of fight, she'd lose anyway, but when Tony relaxed his firm grip on her shoulder to pull her into a hug, she lost all of the defiance and anger she had, instead relaxing into his shoulder and crying.

Noticing Kristin was now coming with Tony, Tim pulled out his phone and called Gibbs.

"Boss, we have her, she's with Tony and we're bringing her to NCIS now."

"Watch her closely, McGee, make sure she doesn't run again. And take her straight down to see Ducky, I'll meet you there."  
Hearing Tim relay this to Tony, Kristin felt her stomach drop. She didn't know how to explain this or where to start. Feeling Tony by her side, she knew she had support, but she didn't think it would be enough.


	7. Chapter 7

Sitting on the cold metal table in autopsy, Kristin put all her focus on not breaking down. Tim was sitting beside her, hold her arm which she had been shocked to discover was bleeding rather profusely despite her never realising she had cut it. Nonetheless it was shaking and Ducky could hardly stitch it up so Tim was holding it still, stroking the side of her arm with his thumb, gently telling her to relax. She didn't know Tim that well and to be honest, he had always made her nervous. But she didn't care about that now. She didn't know where Gibbs was but she was getting nervous. Apparently not as nervous as Tony who was pacing back and forth across the room. Finally, when Ducky had finished stitching her came over and crouched down so they were eye to eye and Kristin struggled to not look away.  
"What were you thinking?" Tony asked, "what were you running from, I don't understand. None of us do and trust me, you are going to have to explain it to Gibbs."  
Wordlessly dropping Tony's stare, Kristin pulled the newspaper article from her pocket and handed it to him.  
Taking a minute to understand what was in front of him, Tony realised he was staring at the only picture he had ever seen of Shannon and Kelly, Gibbs' first wife and daughter.

"This is why you ran away?"  
"I'm not going to be a burden on anyone else. This has gone too far already. He doesn't need me here!" Kristin replied, her voice just above a whisper.

If Ducky was confused he didn't show it, continuing to poke and prod his patient as Tony stormed out of the room, article in hand, presumably to find Gibbs.

* * *

Upstairs in the bullpen, Tony came to a crashing halt as he ran into an even more agitated Gibbs.

"DiNozzo," he barked, "I told you stay with her, what the hell are you doing?"  
"McGee is with her. I wanted to show you this"  
He watched as his boss silently read the article about the one event in his life he tried so hard not to think about.

"Where did she get this? What the hell does this have to do with anything?"  
"I don't know where she got it but it has her really upset. She thinks…..she thinks she's in the way. That she is making this worse for you."

Gibbs clapped Tony's shoulder as he stormed past to the elevator, wondering how on earth he was going to fix this mess.

* * *

Kristin's eyes widened and she subconsciously shrank into Tim as Gibbs entered the room. As he stormed over to Ducky, Kristin mistook this as aggression towards her and tried to move away, unsuccessfully with Tim still holding her bandaged arm.

"Is she ok Duck? What happened to her arm?" He asked.

"She must have scrapped it on something, I put in a few stitches but it'll be fine. Her blood sugar is a little low so maybe some food before the third degree."

"I don't need…." Kristin started only to be interrupted by Gibbs,

"You can talk, when I ask you to talk" Gibbs said firmly, not missing the flash of anger her Kristin's eyes. Helping her off the table he kept a firm grasp on her shoulder, reminding her she was far from off the hook, no matter how she was feeling.

The car ride had been the longest of her life. Still convinced she had done nothing wrong, Kristin's anger had begun to grow. Yet she didn't even totally know what she was angry about. She knew she was angry about the case, about her father, about the way everyone treated her like she hadn't been caring for herself the past few years.  
Coming around to her side of the car and (none too gently) helping her out, Kristin realised Gibbs was probably at least as pissed off as she was.

To her great surprise the yelling didn't start straight away. When her father was pissed off, he could barely wait til they got in the house before the yelling started. This was an odd and concentrated silence. Watching Gibbs go into the kitchen, she didn't know whether to follow, but when he returned with leftover pasta, salad and her blood sugar testing kit his glare told her to sit a the kitchen table and don't argue.  
Sitting down, she decided to test the waters anyway,  
"I'm really not hungry" she said,

"We have a lot to talk about and you have a lot of explaining to do. But none of that is happening until your blood sugar is up."  
Kristin wanted to argue, but the fact was, she was hungry and thirsty and she knew he was right. This didn't bode well for her.

After a silent and tense dinner Kristin passed the blood sugar test and Gibbs started clearing the plates, but another famous stare kept her glued to her seat when she tried to help. Finally he sat back down and already, Kristin couldn't keep eye contact.  
"Do you want to explain to me, what part of out conversation about skipping school you didn't understand last time? And then maybe you can explain where the hell you were going?"  
When she didn't reply, Gibbs slammed down the article Tony had given him on the table, making Kristin flinch.

"And where did you get this?"

"I found it." She lied in a whisper.  
"Don't lie to me," Gibbs' replied, his voice dangerously low. "Where did you get it?"  
Swallowing hard, Kristin replied, "My father gave it to me. Indirectly. At the hearing."

"And this is why you were running?"  
"Yes sir"  
"So what you are saying, is that rather than come and talk to me. Or to Tony. Or Tim. Or anyone who would tell you the truth in a heartbeat, you believe some rubbish line your father spun you. The man who you just watched lie to an open court for an hour?"  
"So you're saying he's wrong? You don't have a wife or a child who died?" Kristin challenged,

"Of course I do. Not even your father can create a lie this big."  
"Then he's right. I am in the way. Why would you want someone here reminding you of your daughter? Someone who causes you nothing but trouble?" Kristin said, almost yelling.

"Have you ever met someone who could get me to do something I didn't want to do?" Gibbs asked, "and furthermore, have a look at the date on that article. This happened such a long time ago. You're father was messing with you and it worked. Trust me, if I didn't want you here, you wouldn't be here."

Feeling quite stupid and somehow touched all at the same time, Kristin returned her gaze to the table.  
"Ok, so I know why you were running. Where were you going?" Gibbs asked and when he saw Kristin's face turn red, he tried again.

"I expect an answer. Where were you going?"

"I can't tell you."

"Don't do this again. We both know you will tell me so save yourself the anguish and the time."  
"I was going to see my brother but I can't tell you where.'  
Gibbs paused. This was unexpected.

"You have a brother?"  
"He's 27, so he's not on the child services radar, but yes, I have a brother."  
"And his name is…."  
"I can't tell you that either."

Levelling her with his best glare, the one that made Tony squirm, Kristin held strong.  
"Why not?"  
"Because what he does…..its not exactly legal…mostly anyway. He's the only person I have and I'm not ratting on him."  
"You know I could find him if I wanted to?" Gibbs challenged.

With renewed anger Kristin replied,

"That doesn't mean I'm giving you a head start."

Gibbs could hardly believe the girl that was in front of him. Where was the girl who barely spoke and when she did, could hardly raise her voice above a whisper? He had to bring her in before he lost her for good.

"So here is what we agree on. You skipped school. Again. Something we have covered before correct?"  
Dropping her head in shame she replied, "Yes sir" in her usual whisper.

"You put yourself in danger by running away. Again. Something, by the way, your father probably expected you to do."

He watched the realisation hit Kristin, before he continued,

"All of this because of something you could have come to me about. I would have talked to you about. We could have avoided all of this."

Realising she had nothing more to say, his voice turned hard again.  
"You are grounded for the next 2 weeks. You will come to NCIS every day after school and do school work or chores I find for you to do. Then every night for the next 2 weeks, you will stand in the corner for 15 minutes and think about all of the ways you could have avoided the way today turned out."  
Sunk so low she was in danger of sliding of her chair, Kristin mumbled a barely coherent "yes sir."

Walking over to couch and pointing to a spot in front of him Gibbs said,  
"Right then, lets get this over with. Come here."

Kristin stood up so fast her chair turned over and backed away.

"What are you doing?"  
"You know exactly what I'm doing. We had this discussion the last time this happened, you had to know it would happen again?"  
"But this was…was a misunderstanding… please"  
Gibbs didn't know why she was suddenly so scared, but he was determined to stay strong.  
"Don't make me come and get your Kristin."

But Kristin kept backing away, not really planning on running away but just scared enough to keep away. She hadn't thought it would come to this again. She thought he'd throw her out, not care enough to spank her again. All she knew that if she pissed her dad off about the same thing twice. Well….she didn't like to think about it.

Reaching her in a few steps Gibbs took her by the arm and led her upstairs, depositing her in a corner. Then, in a dangerously low tone he said,

"Stay and have a good think about today's event and tell me you don't deserve a spanking."

* * *

Her forehead resting against the wall, Kristin knew he was right, but the emotions of the day had gotten the best of her and at the end of the day she was still scared of this man. Scared that she was wrong about him. She wished he had just let her go.

Finally after 10 minutes Gibbs called Kristin out of the corner and she walked over to him with her head down.

"Im sorry, I just…it's too hard yet….if I ever did the same thing twice to my father…." Her voice trailed off.

"Hey," he said, raising her chin so they were looking at each other. "I'm not your father."

"I know."  
"Ok then. Let's get this over with. Pants down."  
Kristin looked up in horror. But his face was firm.

"You can do it or I can but they are coming down. This is the second time we've had this discussion."  
"I…I can't"

Guiding her over his lap, Gibbs pulled down her pants and held her in place and she continued to struggle slightly,

"You can do this. You can trust me. I need you to trust me if I am going to keep you safe."  
A tear ran down Kristin's face and she held still, Gibbs took this as his one and only sign she was ready and brought his hand down with a **SMACK.**

As he continued for the next 5 minutes, Kristin stoicism began to fade before she was sobbing, limp over his lap. Despite everything that had happened, she knew she could trust him and as she felt his hand rubbing her back she realised what is was like to have someone who cared about her.

* * *

The next morning, Kristin still felt terrible about the events that had transpired the night before but she knew she had one more person to make amends with.

Sitting on the fence in the back carpark of the school, she waited for her teacher's car to arrive. When she saw Andrew's car appear she slowly stood up, but was too embarrassed to head over to him. Not one to hold a grudge, he made the first move.  
"You came back."

Nodding she replied, "I never really got that far."

As he pulled her into a hug he whispered, "I'm glad you're ok"  
Taking a deep breath she looked up at him, her face full of shame and said,

"I can't believe I talked to you like that. I have never had anyone who has cared about me before I moved here and suddenly I have a guardian, his work colleagues, friends and a teacher who are all looking out for me. And not because they have to. But because they want to. I just didn't know how to deal with it and so I took it out on you. And I am so sorry."

Putting an arm around her shoulders Andrew replied, "You have to let your feelings out once in a while. Tell people when they are royally pissing you off. Otherwise it all boils up and you lose it."  
Understanding completely, Kristin sighed and met his eyes, "I fully accept whatever punishment the school has for me. I don't want you to get me out of any of it."

Laughing and steering her towards the school he replied "why would you think I would get you out it? I'd say you're in for about a weeks worth of detention and there is no way in hell I am answering to Gibbs for letting you off it!"  
"Fair call," Kristin laughed, "I'm not a fan of answering to him either!"


End file.
